Let there be light

“It’s a Wonderful Life” is my husband’s favorite movie. After 30 years of marriage, let’s just be honest and say I overdosed on it long ago. But I always watch the ending where he’s back and running down the street to home, and I always think, “I want to live in Bedford Falls.” Really? Sort of. I love the way the town cares enough about the Christmas holidays to really decorate. I love the banners across the streets and how every shop window is decorated.

There’s a nice display of lights on several houses down Hwy. 144 near Rabbit Hill in south Bryan County and it seems as if every subdivision has at least one nicely decorated house, but most of Richmond Hill is dark.

Why is that? Some say it uses too much electricity to run the lights. Phhbbt! (that’s a raspberry). Your instant-on plasma TVs, stereos, computers and other gadgets use more power with less pleasure returned.

Some say they work full time and don’t have time to decorate. I can identify. I have a chronic health condition that makes me too tired to do much sometimes, but running one string of lights takes about 15 minutes and even the walking dead could come up with that. Make it your goal for the day to run a string of lights and see if that doesn’t energize you to do more.

You say you just don’t have the holiday spirit. Well, emotions follow actions. Start acting like you have the holiday spirit and see if you don’t get the spirit.

Your house doesn’t have to look like it could star in House Beautiful either, though that is a nice aspiration. Christmas is a time for whimsy and creativity.

My husband usually does the outside lights and when he got tired of lugging ladders all over the place he dragged our boat into the front yard and ran the house lights all over it. Kind of redneck but festive! And being that we have the only Christmas lights on our street, it sure stands out. I wish we could get the boat done in time to enter it into the Ft. McAlister boat parade; maybe next year. I’m not saying go for tacky, but tacky happens and don’t let that stand in the way of letting your light shine.

I know not everyone in the world is Christian and so not everyone celebrates the coming of Christ. With the recent school shooting some wonder if we should be celebrating the holidays at all. But Christmas is the literal coming of the light into the darkness of our world.

Darkness is the absence of light, but light is not the absence of darkness. Light overcomes darkness. And in these dark times, we need more light. So put a few strings of Christmas lights on your house. Let your light shine before men.